RATHER THAN TALK

 

 

 

ROOTS ROCK

When they kick down your front door,

how you gonna come?

With your hands on your head

or on the trigger of your gun?

 

 

THE GENERATIONS

Second part of the essay, also from same source, duly noted. 

The Generations

May 16, 2009 by John McDonald

http://johnmcdonald.info/seasons-of-civ/

 

According to this theory (which is agreeable to my own sense of history & politics), there are four primary types of generations:

Artists (Silent Generation 1924-1944, New Artists 200?-202?) – Artists are born into or spend their youth in a crisis.  As the name implies, the stereotypical disposition of this generation is skewed toward artistic expression.  Born in the 20′s and 30′s, the recent artists were the beatniks, blues musicians, and bohemians of Post-WW2 America.  The last artist generation gave us Johnny Cash, Elvis, and George Carlin.  The younger artists are just now being born and entering into elementary school.

 

Prophets (Baby Boomers 1944-1962) – Prophets are born into a seemingly stable society and can be driven by a sense of moral conviction and/or entitlement.  These are not just the hippies of the 1960s, they’re also the social conservatives who rallied around Bush and the Republican party’s culture wars.  Prophets tend to be idealistic, but this idealism can stifle compromise and leave issues unresolved.

 

Nomads (Generation X 1962-1982) – Nomads are born during a cultural awakening and come of age as a society begins showing signs of decay.  Similar to artists, this generation is generally more concerned with self-expression than saving the world.  As a particularly rebellious group, they are likely to shun social expectations if they don’t see personal benefit in it.

 

Civics (“Greatest Generation” 1901-1924, Millennials, 1982-2004?) – Civics are born in an unraveling society and come of age during a crisis.  As the civilization is seeking solutions to the crisis, this generation tends toward political interests early in life.  The last Civic generation fought WW2 and went on to virtually dominate the presidency from JFK to GHWB.  The major criticism is that they can be reckless and short-sighted in their rush to solve immediate social problems.

As you are now, I once was.
As I am now, you will be.

There, ya feel better?

A MAN'S WORLD

Man's prayer:
I'm a man
but I can change
if I have to
I guess ..... Red Green


 Philistine sez:

This is your art director speaking.

The Kipling poem is some truth speaking. Some say it a bit simpler. Take Louis Prima for instance:

"A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothing but a male. One thing about him, he know's how to jive and wail"

Yes, it appears that the first official Rock-n-Roller was on to Kipling's assertions on gender as well.

I suggest you post this video to clear up any misconceptions about the subject.




Is this how art directors talk? I didn't think being all creative and sensitive he could get assertive. I thought I could handle him.


In any event, since I've mentioned females I guess I oughta include something for us guys. I wish I knew who authored this, but I will offer it here nonetheless.

Retrosexual Male, The Code :

A Retrosexual man, no matter what the woman insists, PAYS FOR THE DATE.

A Retrosexual man opens doors for a lady. Even for the ones that fit that term only because they are female.

A Retrosexual DEALS WITH IT, be it a flat tire, break-in into your home, or a natural disaster, you DEAL WITH IT.

A Retrosexual not only eats red meat, he often kills it himself.

A Retrosexual doesn't worry about living to be 90. It's not how long you live, but how well. If you're 90 years old and still smoking cigars and drinking, I salute you. If you are still having sex, you are a God.

A Retrosexual does not use more hair or skin products than a woman. Women have several supermarket aisles of stuff. Retrosexuals need an end cap (possibly 2 end caps if you include shaving goods.)

A Retrosexual does not dress in clothes from Hot Topic when he's 30 years old.

A Retrosexual should know how to properly kill stuff (or people) if need be. This falls under the "DEALING WITH IT" portion of The Code.

A Retrosexual watches no TV show with "Queer" in the title.

A Retrosexual does not let neighbors screw up rooms in his house on national TV.

A Retrosexual should not give up excessive amounts of manliness for women. Some is inevitable, but major reinvention of yourself will only lead to you becoming a froo-froo little puss, and in the long run, she ain't worth it.

A Retrosexual is allowed to seek professional help for major mental stress such as drug/alcohol addiction, death of your entire family in a freak treechipper accident, favorite sports team being moved to a different city, favorite bird dog expiring, etc. You are NOT allowed to see a shrink because Daddy didn't pay you enough attention. Daddy was busy DEALING WITH IT. When you screwed up, he DEALT with you.

A Retrosexual will have at least one outfit in his wardrobe designed to conceal himself from prey.

A Retrosexual knows how to tie a Windsor knot when wearing a tie -- and ONLY a Windsor knot.

A Retrosexual should have at least one good wound he can brag about getting.

A Retrosexual knows how to use a basic set of tools. If you can't hammer a nail, or drill a straight hole, practice in secret until you can -- or be rightfully ridiculed for the wuss you be.

A Retrosexual knows that owning a gun is not a sign that your are riddled with fear, guns are TOOLS and are often essential to DEAL WITH IT. Plus it's just plain fun to fire one off in the direction of those people or things that just need a little "wakin' up".

Crying. There are very few reasons that a Retrosexual may cry, and none of them have to do with TV commercials, movies, or soap operas. Sports teams are sometimes a reason to cry, but the preferred method of release is swearing or throwing the remote control. Some reasons a Retrosexual can cry include (but are not limited to) death of a loved one, death of a pet (fish do NOT count as pets in this case), loss of a major body part, or loss of major body part on your Ford truck.

When a Retrosexual is on a crowded bus and or a commuter train, and a pregnant woman, heck, any woman gets on, that retrosexual stands up and offers his seat to that woman, then looks around at the other so-called men still in their seats with a disgusted "you punks" look on his face.

A Retrosexual knows how to say the Pledge properly, and with the correct emphasis and pronunciation. He also knows the words to the Star Spangled Banner.

A Retrosexual will have hobbies and habits his wife and mother do not understand, but that are essential to his manliness, in that they offset the acceptable manliness decline he suffers when married/engaged or in a serious healthy relationship - i.e., hunting, boxing, shot putting, shooting, cigars, car maintenance.

A Retrosexual knows how to sharpen his own knives and kitchen utensils.

A Retrosexual man can drive in snow (hell, a blizzard) without sliding all over or driving under 20mph, without anxiety, and without high-centering his ride in a snow bank.

A Retrosexual man can chop down a tree and make it land where he wants. Wherever it lands is where he damn well wanted it to land. Except on his truck--that would happen because of a "force of nature," and then the retrosexual man's options are to Cry, or to DEAL WITH IT, or do both.

A Retrosexual will give up his seat on a bus to not only any women but any elderly person or person in military dress (except 2nd Lt's) NOTE: The person in military dress may turn down the offer but the Retrosexual man will ALWAYS make the offer to them and thank them for serving their country.

A Retrosexual man doesn't need a contract -- a handshake is good enough. He will always stand by his word even if circumstances change or the other person deceived him.

A Retrosexual man doesn't immediately look to sue someone when he does something stupid and hurts himself. We understand that sometimes in the process of doing things we get hurt and we just DEAL WITH IT! 

The Godfather of Soul has his own ideas on the subject.

I never paid much attention to the words. All I knew was that if this was playing and I danced with my sweetie we'd get a good push going. I shoulda listened better.

MYSTERY TRAIN

Philistine sends me links like this whenever he figures I'm getting too comfy.

I'll put up some blues until I can think of something to say.










*

BUMPIN'

Easy on the ears.


Wes Montgomery






Django Reinhardt










Chet Atkins






Portion of Ravel's Bolero, with special interest slow motion for Philistine's pleasure

TIGHTEN UP

 I'd rather hear music than read the news. If you are clever you can play the music and open in a new tab the latest supermarket tabloids that pass for news. 

 I offer an eclectic mix, that's what it is. Maybe I am eclectic too. Yeah, that's it. Eclectic.


If you get bored browse through my archives of most excellent posts.

THE COASTERS

Songs with a story:






Anybody know who Boston Blackie and Bulldog Drummond were?

SQUARE & COMPASSES 4

OTHER FAMOUS MASONS

Balfour, Lloyd - Jewelry
Bartholdi, Frederic A. - Designed the Statue of Liberty
Baylor, Robert E. B. - Founder Baylor University
Beard, Daniel Carter - Founder Boy Scouts
Bell, Lawrence - Bell Aircraft Corp.
Borglum, Gutzon & Lincoln - Father and Son who carved Mt. Rushmore
BuBois, W.E.B. - Educator/Scholar

Calvo, Father Francisco - Catholic Priest who started Freemasonry in Costa Rica 1865
Chrysler, Walter P. - Automotive fame
Citroen, Andre - French Engineer and motor car manufacturer

Desaguliers, John Theophilus - Inventor of the planetarium
Dow, William H. - Dow Chemical Co.
Drake, Edwin L - American Pioneer of the Oil industry
Dunant, Jean Henri - Founder of the Red Cross

Ervin Jr, Samuel J. - Headed "Watergate" committee

Faber, Eberhard - Head of the famous Eberhard Fabor Pencil Company
Fisher, Geoffrey - Archbishop of Canterbury 1945 - 1961
Fitch, John - Inventor of the Steamboat
Fleming, Sir Alexander - Invented Penicillin
Ford, Henry - Pioneer Automobile Manufacturer

Gatling, Richard J. - Built the "Gatling Gun"
Gilbert, Sir William S. - Was the librettis for "Pirates of Penzance"
Gillette, King C. - Gillette Razor Co.
"Grock" - Swiss Circus Clown
Guillotin, Joseph Ignace - Inventor of the "Guillotine"

Hedges, Cornelius - "Father" of Yellowstone National Park
Henson, Josiah - Inspired the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Hilton, Charles C. - American Hotelier
Hoban, James - Architect for the U.S. Captiol
Hoe, Richard M. - Invented the rotary press, revolutionizing newspaper printing
Hoover, J. Edgar - Director of FBI
Houdini, Harry - Magician

Jenner, Edward - Inventor - Vaccination
Jones, Melvin - One of the founders of the Lions International

Lake, Simon - Built first submarine successful in open sea
Land, Frank S. - Founder Order of DeMolay
Lipton, Sir Thomas - Tea

Marshall, James W. - Discovered Gold at Sutter's Mill California 1848
Mayer, Louis B. - Film producer who merged to form Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)Mayo,
Dr. William and Charles - Began Mayo Clinic
Maytag, Fredrick - Maytag
Menninger, Karl A. - Psychiatrist famous for treating mental illness
Michelson, Albert Abraham - Successfully measured the speed of light in 1882
Montgolfier, Jacques Etienne - Co-developer of the first practical hot-air balloon

New, Harry S. - Postmaster General who established Airmail
Newton, Joseph Fort - Christian Minister

Olds, Ransom E. - American automobile pioneer
Otis, James - Famous for "Taxations without Representation is Tyranny"

Papst, Charles F. - Coined the term "Athletes' Foot"
Peale, Norman Vincent - Founder of "Guidepost"
Penney, James C. - Retailer
Poinsett, Joel R. - U.S. Minister to Mexico who developed the flower: Poinsettia
Pullman, George - Built first sleeping car on train

Ringling Brothers - All 7 brothers and their father were Masons

Salten, Felix - Creator of Bambi
Sarnoff, David - Father of T.V.
Schoonover, George - Founder of "The Builder"
Stanford, Leland - Railroads & Stanford University, drove the gold spike linking the intercontinental railroad
Still, Andrew T. - American Physician who devised treatment of Osteopathy

Teets, John W. - Chairman and President of Dial Corporation
Thomas, Dave - Founder of Wendy's Restaurant
Thomas, Lowell - Brought Lawrence of Arabia to public notice

Wadlow, Robert Pershing - Tallest human on record being almost 9 feet tall
Warner, Jack - Warner Brothers Fame
Webb, Matthew - First man to swim the English Channel (1875)
Wyler, William - Director of "Ben Hur"

Zanuck, Darryl F. - Co-founder of 20th Century Productions in 1933
Ziegfeld, Florenz - His Ziegfeld's Follies began in 1907

 

SQUARE & COMPASSES 3

You beginning to get the idea? (Not you, Philistine; maybe someone clicked here by accident and kept reading.)

I am not saying we need more Masons to get us out of the hole we are in. We need more men and women who have virtues and morals; the same attributes found in Masonry and BTW, all the major spiritual frameworks, the fraternal organizations, any gathering that considers the persons on this list as Good men and share the values they display. These virtues are universal and pretty simple.

Here's more Masons. Notice there are some Black guys, some Jews, some foreigners, some who actually do not have the United States best interests at heart? This is not an American thing, nor a Christian thing. You will see farther on that Masonry is world-wide.

Surprised yet?

Musicians and Composers

Roy Acuff

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong - 1900-1971, American jazz musician

Eddy Arnold

Johann Christian Bach - German composer

William "Count" Basie - American jazz composer & band leader

Irving Berlin - 1888-1989, Russian-born American songwriter

Roy Clark - Country music star

George M. Cohan - 1878-1942, American singer, songwriter & playwright

Nat "King" Cole - 1919-1965, American singer & pianist

Reginald DeKoven -

Edward "Duke" Ellington - 1899-1974, American jazz composer, pianist & bandleader

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert - 1836-1911, English playwright & lyricist

Franz Joseph "Papa" Hayden - 1732-1809, Austrian composer

Burl Ives -

Al Jolson - 1886-1950, American entertainer

Francis Scott Key - 1779-1843, American lawyer & poet

Franz Liszt - 1811-1886, Hungarian pianist & composer

Jakob Ludwig F. Mendelssohn - 1809-1847, German composer, pianist & conductor

Glenn Miller - 1909-1944, American bandleader

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 1756-1791, Austrian composer and dirty old man

Roy Rogers - American singer & actor

Jean Sibelius - 1865-1957, Finnish composer

John Stafford Smith - wrote the music that became the US National Anthem

John Phillip Sousa - 1854-1932, American bandmaster & composer

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan - 1842-1900, English composer of operettas

Mel Tillis -

Paul Whiteman - "King of Jazz", 1891-1967. American jazz musician

Entertainers

Casanova - Italian adventurer, writer and entertainer

Buffalo Bill Cody

Norm Crosby

Grock - Swiss circus clown

Paul Harvey--  Noted radio commentator

Bob Hope

Harry Houdini--  Fascinated with magic and metaphysics

August Ringling--  Master of the circus

Charles Stratton

Enrico Wallenda-- High wire artist

Florenz Ziegfeld - Ziegfeld's Follies

SQUARE & COMPASSES 2

You can tell a lot about a man by looking at his shoes.

You can also tell a lot by observing the company he keeps.

Then and now we observe certain people (I include women too, but this is, ahem, an essay on Masons. I am no misogynist.) We observe these folks doing the right thing. Noble, heroic, generous, strong, all positive qualities. Used to be most everybody did the right thing and no big deal, that's just what you did. I see less and less of these folks as I get older. Nothing wrong with my eyes, something wrong with our society.

Here's some more Masons:

Astronauts

Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. - American Astronaut

Neil Armstrong - American Astronaut; first to walk on the moon

Gordon Cooper

Don Eisele

John H. Glenn - First American Astronaut to orbit in space

Virgil Grissom - American astronaut

Fred Haise

Edgar Mitchell

Wally Schirra

Thomas Stafford

James Webb

Paul Weitz

Explorers

Richard E. Byrd - American Naval officer and polar explorer

Christopher "Kit" Carson - American frontiersman and Indian agent

William Clark - American western explorer, military officer

Lewis and Clark- American western explorers

Meriwether Lewis - American western explorer

Charles Lindbergh - American aviator; first solo transatlantic flight

Donald MacMillan - American Arctic explorer

Robert E. Peary - American Naval office and Arctic explorer

Zebulon Pike - American Army officer and explorer; Pike's Peak

War Heroes

Henry Harley ('Hap') Arnold - 1886-1950, American Air-force officer

Omar Nelson Bradley - 1893-1981, American military leader

James Harold ('Jimmy') Doolittle - 1896-1993, American Army officer & Aviator

Douglas MacArthur - 1880-1964, American general--             Interesting that he was sacked by Grand Master Harry S. Truman!

George C. Marshall - 1880-1959, American soldier, diplomat & statesman (Nobel 1953)

Audie Murphy - 1924-1971, Most decorated American Soldier of WWII and actor

Oliver Hazard Perry - 1785-1819, American Naval officer

John Joseph ('Black Jack') Pershing - 1860-1948, American Army officer

Edward Vernon ('Eddie') Richenbacker - 1890-1973, American Aviator

Charles Summerall

Alfred vonTirpitz - 1849-1930, German Navel officer responsible for submarine warfare

Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright - 1883-1953, American general

SQUARE & COMPASSES

Friendship, Morality, Brotherly Love. Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice. Charity. A belief in God. These attributes formed our nation and they are essential to keep it together.

For centuries, many folks held these attributes and practiced them in their daily affairs as a matter of course. No big deal, that was just the way you did things. Right and Wrong were clearly and succinctly defined. No shades of gray.

Freemasons uphold these concepts, sworn oaths to God; they adhere to solemn obligations regarding conduct. Yes, there are many other good men in the world who are not Freemasons, not to dismiss or disregard them. But this here is an essay on the Oldest Fraternity in the world.

Here is a list, I'll post it in parts. You might be surprised who was and is a Mason:

Signers of the Constitution of the United States

Abraham Baldwin	James McHenry
Gunning Bedford Jr.	James Madison
John Blair	Alexander Martin
William Blount	Robert Morris
David Brearley	William Paterson
Daniel Carroll	William Pierce
William Richardson	Davie Charles Pinckney
Jonathan Dayton	Edmund Randolph
Oliver Ellsworth	George Read
Benjamin Franklin	Roger Sherman
Elbridge Gerry	George Walton
Refus King	George Washington
John Langdon	George Wythe
John Lansing Jr.

 Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Benjamin Franklin	John Hancock
William Hooper	Richard Stockton
Matthew Thornton	George Walton
William Whipple

Patriots

John Blair - 1732-1800

Benjamin Franklin - 1706-1790, statesman, diplomat, author, scientist and printer

Francis Scott Key-- Wrote our National Anthem

John Hancock - 1737-1793, merchant, politician and Revolutionary leader

Rufus King - 1755-1827, politician and diplomat

Henry Knox - 1750-1806, American Revolutionary soldier and public official

George Mason - 1725-1792, American Revolutionary statesman

James Otis - 1725-1783, Famous for "Taxation without representation is tyranny"

Thomas Paine - 1737-1809, English-born American author & Revolutionary leader

Peyton Randolph -

Paul Revere - 1735-1818, American silversmith, engraver and Revolutionary patriot

Joseph Warren -

Pioneers

Samuel Colt - 1814-1862, American inventor & manufacturer

David 'Davy' Crockett - 1786-1836, American politician & frontiersman

Richard Gatling - 1818-1903, American firearms inventor

Sam Houston - 1793-1863, American general & politician.  Was genuinely born-again late in life.

William Barret Travis - 1809-36, American military leader, killed at the Alamo